A new begining: Bella&Jasper
by BronzeHairedMystery
Summary: Edward never came back. Jasper saved Bella from Laurent, follow them as they fall in love. Throw in teen pregnancy, the Volturi and a unexpected mission from Aro. Will fate bring the Cullen's back to meet the Whitlock's? Follow Bella and Jasper as they find out... Some Language... B/J
1. Needing Him

**Authors Note**; I want to say_ thank you _to everyone who replied to my previous AN's, the messages I received were so lovely and it has really made me want to write a great story for all the kindness and believe you have shown in me.

As mentioned I read through the previous chapters I had written, but picked out a lot of mistakes that really bothered me, so I went back and re-wrote the chapters but realised that I could do a better peice of writing. Hence the changes I have made will now be updated.

**Please read all the chapters that I now post as they will be completely different to what I have posted previously. **

So far I have the first 4 chapters written, they have all been re-read by both me and my dear friend Lauren; but if anyone does notice a mistake please let me know and I will change it.

If anyone has Twitter feel free to follow me; BethanChelsea_x

Onto the story, I hope you all enjoy :D

_Speech from flashback in Port Angeles taken from page 99 New Moon. _

**_Disclaimer; Stephanie Meyer Owns all and I am but a humble fan using her characters in my own plot to please myself (and anyone else reading :D) _**

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It had been one month since Edward left me and I had come to the realisation that I could no longer go on without him and our family.

Nightmares had begun to plague my dreams, in which I continuously relived the moment that Edward uttered the words that changed my life; 'Bella, I don't want you to come with us'. At first the dreams were a blessing as they allowed me to be with my love again but they soon became distressing when he left me again and again.

After two weeks of little to no sleep, because of these nightmares I began to notice that when I broke my promise about not being reckless and stupid I saw him, Edward that is, appearing to remind me how stupid my actions were. The first time was when I went to the movies with Jessica after Charlie had threatened to send me off to Jacksonville to stay with my mom.

**_Flashback; _**

_I came across a group of four men standing outside of One-Eyed Pete's bar, one seemed vaguely familiar and as I approached him I recognised him as one of the men that had threatened me almost a year ago in a similar unlit street in Port Angeles. As I moved closer to the familiar man I heard __**his**__ voice shouting at me to turn and leave. _

_"Bella, Stop this right now!" At first my muscles froze in place he sounded furious, and then I had to get closer to the stranger and see if I could hear his voice again. I took a few more steps and heard nothing, but then on the fourth step I heard it. _

_"Go back to Jessica" his velvet voice demanded, still angry "You promised – Nothing stupid." He reminded me of the promise I had made that fateful night one month ago, when he had left me abandoned in the forest like an unwanted toy. _

_I took a few more steps towards the man, he began to look quite amused with my nervous stopping and starting towards him, I was also vaguely aware of Jessica somewhere behind me asking if I was suicidal and demanding that I go back to her and we head to the McDonald's up the road for the food I had promised her as we were leaving the cinema. _

_Another step received no warning or demands. So I took another and then another._

_"Keep your promise." The angry but velvety voice ordered although it had started to fade, slipping away as if someone was turning the volume down, until I could hear nothing._

_Stood face-to-face with my attacker I was terrified, I was no longer resisting Edward's orders and realised just how close I had gotten to the threatening stranger._

_"Sss...sorry, my m..mistake." I uttered to him before I turn my back to him and ran back to Jessica's side. _

**_End of Flashback._**

Since that night I had been doing reckless things to try and get him to come back just so I could hear his voice again. I found two abandoned motorbikes and convinced Jake to fix them up, then teach me how to ride them; the Edward 'hallucinations' went ballistic over this one, not only doing something so dangerous but with someone he disliked so much.

I was fast running out of new reckless ideas and quickly began to crave seeing him just another time; so I decided to find something to remind me of him and the family that would hopefully also satisfy the intense urge to do something stupid to catch a glimpse of his enraged face or hear his velvet voice berating me.

I needed to find remaining evidence that our relationship was real and not some sick dream that I had awoken from. He had taken my CD, photographs and plane tickets when he promised that it would be like they didn't exist, so I needed to think of something he couldn't have taken with him; the house seemed logical but there were too many painful memories there that I wasn't yet ready to face. The Meadow was the next place that came to mind, a place that Edward and I had spent so many of our private and memorable moments... but the challenge was finding it. Edward had always ran whilst carrying me towards the meadow, so instinctively I had closed my eyes for every terrifying part of this journey. The only part I was certain of was the start; I could also vividly recall memories within the meadow and felt confident that I would know if I was in the right place.

The next day in work I bought a map of the local area and began looking for clearings in the nearby forest that was near to the river, lakes or streams. I had paid very little attention to geography in school and was therefore terrible at map reading; but I knew that Jake was taught map reading as a historical tribal skill that he may need in the future when he became the Tribal Chief of La Push. After I had finished work I rang Jake to see if he was busy, he was free and seemed eager to see me again; so I made my way over to his house.

I pulled up on the dirt driveway of the Black home and switched of the engine. As reached over to the passenger seat to grab my bag, the driver side door swung open and there appeared a grinning Jake who picked me up, hauled me out of the cab and swung me around in the air.

"Bella, where you been?" he asked as he set me back on my feet and then held me at an arms length to get a better look at me. A small frown took over his features as he tutted at me, shaking his head "You've lost more weight Bella" he scolded disappointedly "You're not even a stick now, you resemble a twig" he continued commenting on the amount of weight I had lost over the last month, I was afraid to tell him that I had actually put on almost a stone since 'coming out' of my depressed state, so I instead chose to ignore his comment.

Walking past him and heading for the garage out back, with my bag containing the map flung over my shoulder. Once in the garage I retrieved the map and spread it out on the worktop, flattening out all the creases.

Jake's head appeared next to me glancing wearily over my shoulder at the map.

"A map... what's that for?" He questioned sounding confused "I hope you haven't been giving someone directions, I'll have to call Charlie and get a search party out." He joked, knowing first hand my terrible sense of direction.

I thought it best not to tell Jake the whole truth about the reason I was searching for the meadow, considering his rather irritable nature with anything concerning Edward.

"I'm looking to find a meadow or clearing in the forest." I told him purposely not including a reason to why I was searching for it.

"You want to go hiking? Your hiking skills are worse than your map reading skills, so what brought this sudden hiking trip on?"

Crap. Quick Bella think of something to tell him. I chuckled nervously and said the first thing that came to my mind "Uhhh a friend told me about it and it sounds like a good place to relax..." my voice getting higher and higher as my lie continued "and I...ummm... I wanted to find it? To relax in?" I asked unsure and knowing that Jake was suspicious.

He raised his eye brow at my disbelievingly and called me out on my lie.

"That my story and I'm sticking to it" I huffed and poked my tongue out at Jake because he had easily picked up on my spreading blush and started laughing.

"Okay, okay... I suppose the why isn't that important. I had better come with you or you'll just go off alone and get lost or hurt or worse." He paused "Unless this has something to do with finding some zombies or fairies in the woods?"

I just chuckled nervously in reply; Jake didn't need to know how close to the truth that statement was. He was just excited to have been asked to come with me, even more so now that he knew we would be camping out in the forest **ALONE.**

"Leave the map here and I'll take a look at it later, and let you know if I can find anything that sounds like this meadow." I could tell he was thinking about something else, so I left the map where it was and headed out to my truck calling a goodbye to Jake and Billy as left. I headed home and made dinner just in time as Charlie walked through the door just as the timer on the oven went off.

Dinner was quiet with little small talk about our days, Charlie seemed happy that I had gone out to La Push to see Jake. However, he was soon distracted by the baseball game on the TV, so I went upstairs to do my homework.

I took the next weekend off work, telling Mrs. Newton that I had an emergency phone call from a friend in Seattle that needed me to visit for reasons she didn't want to tell me over the phone. I also relayed this story to Charlie and although he was confused that I had never mentioned a friend in Seattle he was pleased that I was 'getting out' and socialising with people, Charlie was further impressed when I told him that I had asked Jake to come with me to keep me company on the ride.

The rest of the week passed uneventfully and when Saturday came, I packed my things and headed off to the Black house in La Push which was a 20 minute drive in a normal car, but my truck with a top speed of 40 made the journey in 30 minutes. I arrived at Jake's to find him waiting on the porch with 4 bags, sleeping bags, a tent, a map in his hand and a compass around his neck looking deep in thought; staring out into space.

"I thought I was the one that was supposed to have lots of bags." I joked, snapping Jake out of his thoughts.

"Oh, hey Bells." Jake greeted me quietly throwing the bags into the back of my truck and climbing into the passenger seat before I could even open the car door. Getting a closer look at him I was worried, he looked like he was sweating and in pain.

"Jake, if you're ill we can do this another time... You look awful."

"Thanks Bells but I'm okay... I'll manage anyway, come on let's get on the way."

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Well, that's the first chapter; like I said completely different than the first chapter that was here before. I hope no-one minds me changing it, but I feel is for the best.

Please leave a review and follow to keep up to date :D

I hope to post Once a week, but am undecided of a day yet; it will probably be a Monday or a Wednesday? :D

If anyone follows on Twitter I will Tweet when I upload new chapters :D Send me a message just to let me know who you are, or else I'll be clueless.

**Beth_x **


	2. The Journey Begins

**AN; **_Thanks so much for all the kind replies. It has been pointed out to me that the story is pretty cannon at the moment, but you will have to bear with me, things will change in the up coming chapters but I needed a point to start the story and lead into something else. _

_I have written the first couple of chapters in all my free time now that I have finished college but will continue to post weekly as planned, because once I start University I may struggle to find the time to write; although I promise to continue with weekly updates! Also now that the Formula One season is midway and we are at the break I have nothing to watch after work on the weekends so I can write some more :D. _

**Disclaimer; **_As always I don't own the characters or the Twilight Saga story, I do however own the plot of this story :D There's a little victory dance going on here :D!_

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**Last time; **

"Oh, hey Bells." Jake greeted me quietly throwing the bags into the back of my truck and climbing into the passenger seat before I could even open the car door. Getting a closer look at him I was worried, he looked like he was sweating and in pain.

"Jake, if you're ill we can do this another time... You look awful."

"Thanks Bells but I'm okay... I'll manage anyway, come on let's get on the way."

**And on with the story...**

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Jake continued to look worse as the quarter of an hour journey continued, he sweated bucket loads and began to physically shake when I asked about his friends Embry and Quill; snapping that they were no longer friends , then turning his back on me to resume starring out of the window.

Then the journey continued with the only noise being made coming from the loud rumble of the engine, as I had ripped out the radio that Emmett had brought me for my birthday the first time I drove my truck after they had left.; climbing into the truck and catching a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye, sent me into a hysterical fit the included clawing at the dashboard until I managed to wiggle the radio out.

The silence in the car continued, soon passing the point of awkward and leaving me not knowing how to continue conversation with my best friend.

Eventually I pulled up to the path that lead into the forest. Jake jumped out before I had even turned the engine off, grabbing the bags from the back of my truck, flinging them over his shoulders and setting off towards the edge of the forest whilst pulling out his map and compass.

Jacob was so engrossed in the map that he forgot about me, I quickly scrambled out of my truck locked the doors and began fumbling after him whist praying that I wouldn't trip over some errand tree route.

"Jacob!" I shouted after him "Hey, wait up!?" I continued clambering over the rocks watching my feet and trying to keep one eye on the dirt path in front of me.

"Jacob!" I continued to shout after him, hoping that even though I could no longer see him he would be able to hear me.

And then I heard his reply in the distance "Come on Bella, we need to get to this clearing before it starts getting dark." I followed his voice and found him leaning up against a nearby tree waiting for me.

"What the hell Jake, I could have gotten lost back there!" I smacked him across the chest as I approached and sent him a glare, causing him to chuckle.

"Yeah, I know I was acting like a jerk...Sorry Bells." He apologised, his face then twisted up in agony, but no noise passed his lips, and his body begun to shake.

"Jake!" I shouted alarmed at his sudden pain "What's wrong?" I asked concerned before reaching out and touching his arm to get his attention. The shaking ceased and Jake looked normal once again.

I offered to take him home arguing that we could come again on another weekend, but Jake refused again assuring me he was okay. Jake took a few minutes to collect himself, sitting on a nearby rock eating some biscuits from the bag and taking small swigs of chilled water. Whilst sat around my mind began to wander, I got the feeling that I was being watched and by watching Jake out of the corner of my eye I knew it wasn't him. I was sure that I was being paranoid so I shook off the feeling and concentrated on Jacob.

When he was ready we set off again at a slower pace, which I could keep up with, we joked as we walked with me pushing him off the path when he made fun of my good job at staying on my feet not my ass.

The forest was full of life today, as it was a dry and warm day, many small animals were scurrying around the forest floor collecting twigs and small bits of food to take back to their families. The sound of bird chirping and insects flying around my head became quite relaxing and I began to ignore the sounds of the forest as our journey wore on.

We continued walking for another hour with me only falling once; luckily I hadn't hurt myself as Jake had caught me on the way down. When his skin had brushed against mine I felt like I had been burnt, Jacob was running a temperature but when I asked he denied it, assuring me he felt fine with the occasional surge of pain. As we continued walking I noticed that Jake began to get irrationally angry at the smallest of things, he even shouted at a rabbit that ran in front of him.

As we pushed through the last pieces of the forest and ducked under an arch made by two vine maples into the clearing I knew instantly that this was the same place; the small round meadow that I had spent so many hours in with Edward learning about on another. The meadow was still magnificent with most flowers still in bloom, filling the almost symmetrically round space with purple, yellow and white flowers.

I stood for a minute, just staring at the centre of the clearing where I had usually sat, taking in the familiarity of my surroundings and noting how comfortable and relaxed I felt here. Until Jake started with his version of the Spanish inquisition about the real reason I wanted to find the meadow.

"Bella, I know you lied about a friend telling you about this place, you've been here before" He accused "You look relaxed and at home here."

"Of course I'm relaxed, it's beautiful here. All I can hear is the sound of the stream and some animals in the distance." I tried to play it off, but Jake didn't buy that; he knew me too well.

"Bullshit Bella" He called me out "are you going to tell me how you knew about this place, when clearly you couldn't have stumbled across it?" He continued questioning whilst searching my face intently looking for any sign that I would give up the information.

When I didn't offer anything he turned away from me, walked to the edge of the clearing and punched the nearest tree trunk. The huge tree groaned under the impact but Jake just turned and shook his fist out before stating that he was going to find some firewood in the forest, and almost demanded that I begin to set up the tent. Then he was gone and I was left to my own devises.

Now that I was alone I began to get the overwhelming feeling that there was something or someone else in the nearby forest, watching, the sound of rustling leaves behind me caused my head to whip around towards it; but I could see nothing out of the ordinary, so calmed myself down just chanting that it was the wind I could hear.

I unpacked the tent, ignoring the intense feeling, and struggled to put it up; it was an old trial tent that belonged to the Black family, Jake had told me stories about how Ephraim Black (his grandfather and the last Chief) had used the tent for tribal ceremonies and had passed it down through the family to be used in future ceremonies, and therefore came with zero instructions.

I quickly gave up on erecting the tent, carefully laying all of the pieces aside ready for Jacob to construct when he returned. Instead I focused on preparing a meal, consisting of beans on toast, for when Jake arrived back to our makeshift camp site.

Another 50 minutes had passed, still with no sign of Jacob, when I began to hear more rustling through the nearby forest coupled with the sounds of animals running and birds fleeing from their branches; followed by the sound of heavy footsteps approaching and getting closer to me along with a pained howl from the nearby area.

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Thanks for reading :D

**Next chapter;** Monday 12Th August (Next Monday)

Click that little button below and let me know what you think, I'll try my best to reply :)

Any mistakes let me know and I'll change them and then give my great friend/ sort of Beta Lauren a slap for not picking it up ;) I love that girl so much really, we just have that sort of friendship :D

**Beth x**


	3. Unexpected Visitors

Thanks to everyone for their kind reviews, they mean the world to me and I do try to reply to them all, but am sorry if I was unable to reply to some. Results Day is on Thursday (15th August), so I will find out then if I am going to University next month; So stressed out right now, but am writing to try and distract myself and am currently in the middle of writing chapter 6 :).

Description of the meadow and some of the dialogue from the meadow are taken from New Moon; Pages 206 -213.

**Disclaimer; Regrettably Twilight and it's characters do not belong to me, but SM.**

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**Previously...**

Another 50 minutes had passed, still with no sign of Jacob, when I began to hear more rustling through the nearby forest coupled with the sounds of animals running and birds fleeing from their branches; followed by the sound of heavy footsteps approaching and getting closer to me along with a pained howl from the nearby area.

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The sky began to darken, mirroring the eerie atmosphere in the forest, leaves continued to rustle and the footsteps drew ever closer; almost teasingly, beginning to slow their approach the closer they came. I couldn't determine the direction the noise was coming from, so I backed up to the middle of the meadow. Every movement and sound caused me to whip my head in another direction, and I soon began to feel dizzy from the spinning around.

After what felt like forever, a dark chuckle came from the bush behind me causing me to whirl in that direction; losing my balance I tumbled toward the floor and landed with a thud. The small chuckle grew into a sinister laughter and a dark hand emerged from the bush that had been concealing it.

"Bella, Bella, Bella" The anonymous voice taunted "I didn't expect to see you here" the voice finished as a familiar dark skinned male emerged from the edge of the forest and slowly moved toward me, stopping about six foot away. I couldn't quite place where I knew him from, but I knew that I had met him before. My mind began racing to try and place the person, and then the day in the clearing when I first saw the Cullen's play baseball came to mind.

"Laurent." I exhaled

"Ahhh, you remember me" he stated excitedly before repeating that he had not expected to find me out here.

"Well, I do live here" I stated "didn't you move to Alaska with the Denali coven?" I asked although I already knew the answer to this, and I knew by the red hue in his eyes that he had not stuck to their diet.

"That lifestyle just couldn't satisfy me," he seemed disappointed "such a shame really because Irina was a good lay, but she wouldn't touch me once I had returned to my old habits."

"Irina?" I asked, the name sounding familiar.

"Irina Denali" he concluded and I instantly remembered who Irina was but said nothing in return.

The silence wore on and began to turn uncomfortable as Laurent began to take slow steps circling me, like a vulture would its prey before it attacked.

"Why are you here?" I questioned, suddenly terrified of the dark male before me.

"Well, you see..." Laurent started "Victoria called and asked a favour of her dear old friend," Laurent told me dramatically and pausing before he carried on "She asked for some help to exact revenge on the one who killed her mate, James"

"Her mate?" I asked confused "We thought she was your mate." This caused Laurent to laugh.

"My mate?" he questioned quirking his eyebrow as he pondered his own question "No, she was frequent partner in my bed, up until she met James that is, but he permitted me to stay around; because he saw strength in numbers. No-one would attack us out of fear of our large normad coven of three." He explained.

He stopped to think and then resumed his taunting circling of me "You're not curious about her revenge?" he probed.

The deadly look in his eye told me all I needed to know about Victoria's plans, they involved killing me.

"Please no," I begged causing him to snigger "Please... "I paused "Please don't kill me" I continued to beg, but I knew that it would be useless.

"I can't help myself, you are just so mouth-watering." He said in a sincere, yet desperate voice that made me tremble. "Besides, you'd be better off me doing it" he continued pensively, considering his thoughts before he spoke again "Victoria plans to torture you to entice your loving Edward to come and save you, only to be killed at her hands."

"That wont work" I deadpanned "Edward doesn't love me; he wouldn't come to save me. They moved on" I finally managed to tell him "Left me behind." I continued.

He paused and looked me over carefully "Don't you see I'm trying to do you a favour? Victoria will kill you slowly and painfully whereas I will do it quickly so that you won't feel a thing."

Laurent began to step towards me slowly; I matched every step he made with a counter step backwards, until he had me backed up against a large tree trunk, gripping either side of the trunk in my hands I braced myself for what I knew was coming; my death.

Laurent smiled menacingly and gradually closed the gap remaining between us at a snail's pace, his hands rising and finally arriving at the trunk beside my shoulders; caging me in. He looked into my eyes before inching his head closer towards me, causing me to squirm uncomfortably and turn my head away from him, however this enabled him to press his nose up against my Jugular vein and inhale deeply.

Laurent moaned in pleasure and a low whisper of "Heavenly" escaped his lips, as he moved his lips up the side of my neck towards my ear; his unnecessary exhale was jagged making my knees tremble, Laurent caught me as they gave out. Placing his lips almost lovingly against my ear as he whispered words that I could no longer understand but his tone sounded reassuring. I continued to beg for my life but Laurent would hear none of it, convinced that he was doing me a favour by killing me before Victoria could find me.

'Edward' appeared from the surrounding trees, begging me to fight him; but I knew that there was no chance of me doing so successfully. He implored that I lie to Laurent and tell him that the Cullen's wouldn't be happy if he killed me and that they were due to come looking for me at any moment.

"Edward will be looking for me" I lied as convincingly as I could manage "He wont be happy if you kill me, he and the rest of the Cullen's will hunt you down and kill you." I argued mustering all of my strength and looking him in the eye as I said so, but I could not maintain the eye contact and instead focused my gaze on a break in the clearing that I could see over his shoulder.

"I know you're lying" he told me "I went to the Cullen house before I stumbled upon you, it was empty; tarps were covering the furniture, there was a layer of dust over everything and the scents were weak and old. Plus you already told me they left you and they didn't love you." Wrapping his hand around my throat and forcing me to look at him he continued "I could hear your heart rate accelerate and your failure to look at me tells me everything; No-one will come looking for you, in fact I would say that no-one will care that you will be dead".

Suddenly a voice hidden in the trees replied to him.

"That is where you're wrong," the voice growled menacingly.

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Until next time...

Beth x


	4. Death, Fear and the naked man

Okay so its a late chapter :D

**_Sorry for the double update; but mistakes that have been pointed out have now been rectified :)! Thank you to JynxxD for pointing them out; I now owe Lauren a small slap for missing it as well as a slap for myself :D x_**

**_Bella isn't yet aware of the wolves! but she is aware of Jaspers past, _****_how she knows will be told later in the story! :)_**

On a brighter note, it was A-level results day here in the UK last Thursday (15th August) and I passed all my exams and got into University, which starts in roughly 6 weeks time and I'm really excited. Congratulations to anyone else who has received any exam results as well, I hope they were pleasing? :) If anyone wants to PM me I'd be very interested to know how anyone did?

If anyone didn't do to well, don't panic it's not the end of the world... as much as it may seem like it ATM. Keep in mind that people don't always have to have brilliant exams results to be rich or successful; Just look at Lord Sugar who left school with only 1 GCSE in English lit and now has an estimated net worth of £770m (US$1.14 billion). #JustKeepBelieving :D

And finally good luck to anyone starting or returning to school any time soon :) I hope it turns out to be a good year for you!

**Disclaimer; **SM owns all and I bow down to her brilliant writing :D

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**Previously;**

"No-one will come looking for you, in fact I would say that no-one will care that you will be dead".

Suddenly a voice hidden in the trees replied to him.

* * *

"That's where ya'll are wrong." the voice growled menacingly with a heavy accent prominent.

Laurent had not been paying attention to the sounds in the surrounding area, with this stranger being able to approach unknowingly and surprisingly interrupt his meal. Laurent turned around and looked at the owner of the voice and he immediately dropped his hands from around my throat and growled when he realised who his challenger was.

Laurent, seemingly forgetting about me, turned instead to focus all of his attention on the intruder that had interrupted his kill. Laurent being taller and wider than myself blocked my view of owner of the heavy accent until he shifted into a crouch to defend his meal and I caught a glimpse of familiar wavy blonde locks.

I would know those blonde locks of perfectly rugged hair from any where, and the unique golden amber colour of his narrowed eyes.

Jasper.

Jasper Whitlock Hale.

He was the person I would have least expected to defend me from Laurent, but with him here one thought prominently ran through my mind; if Jasper was back in town then the others must be too.

My muddy brown eyes were watching his every move; to anyone else they were full of a deadly look that almost tormented anyone who looked into them with his smug arrogance. He and Laurent seemed to be in some synchronised dance; every move Jasper made Laurent countered with a step in the opposite direction.

Jasper's darkening eyes met mine after a while, somehow simultaneously continuing blindly in his 'dance' with Laurent. He seemed to be trying to convey something to me during that brief exchange although it wasn't until later that I understood what that look meant.

Finally Laurent broke the silence that had hung heavily in the clearing.

"Cullen" he seethed, he reminded me of a rabid animal that would be foaming at the mouth and spitting at anything that dared to come near.

"I'm no Cullen" the angry blonde replied, seeming even more pissed off than before "I am Major Jasper Whitlock" he announced with an air of authority, confidence taking over him with his head rising proudly and his back straightening out. "And ya'll have no idea the shit ya'll are in for." Jasper drawled eerily calm.

Suddenly the sun shone through openings of the canopy covering the meadow, illuminating Jasper and highlighting his scars to even my 'poor' human sight. Laurent took a good look at the scars covering Jaspers visible skin and noticeably shuddered in fear; getting a reminder of the stories of the Southern Wars, that Jasper had not only been a part of but also partly controlled, and gaining an insight as to what was about to come.

Jasper waited patiently for Laurent to make the first move, knowing that he could counter and form an attack whilst analysing his opponents' weaknesses. His time with Maria in the South giving him something useful, his knowledge and skills as a fighter, using this he continued to block every move Laurent made but held himself back from attacking until the perfect opportunity.

The fight had begun 5 minutes ago and I was having difficulty watching the lightening fast moves and blocks, my human eyes only understanding what was happening in front of me every couple of seconds.

I watched as Laurent feigned left but quickly spun on his heel, as Jasper moved to form a counter attack, and ducked to catch Jaspers foot. Jasper quickly caught onto Laurent's intentions forming a strategy to incapacitate his opponent; beginning to feel bored of the low level and range of combat skills displayed from the less experienced vampire. Jasper began to draw Laurent further away from me, so that I would be in less danger from the unpredictable and thirsty vampire.

The dance continued on for some time, a dance full of blocks and lunges, attacks and counter attacks, strikes and dodges; all with me struggling to grasp what was happening before my eyes.

Jasper crouched, his lips pulling back over his teeth as a deadly snarl ripped out, keeping his eyes locked on Laurent he began to slowly crawl forwards in an almost animalistic manner. With the help of his empathic skills, Jasper projected a lethal amount of fear and terror toward Laurent, causing him to try and flee from the threat Jasper presented; but in his terrified state he could not move his feet.

Jasper continued to move closer and closer to Laurent with a continuous growl escaping his lips and a murderous look in his eyes. He poised himself in a position ready to attack, but then he paused, turning his head to look past the dark skinned vampire and settle his gaze on me. There was a range of emotion in Jaspers eyes that I had never seen in him before; sorrow, fear, anguish and finally love. Then as I recognised the last emotion it was gone, and Jasper had turned to focus his attention back on the vampire who had been threatening me.

With one final glance in my direction, in apology for what I was about to witness, Jasper pounced landing with a foot on each of Laurent's shoulders, crouching down to grab his head he swiftly removed it from his shoulders. Producing a lighter from his back pocket he threw the head in my direction, landing at my feet it rolled and stopped with Laurent's glazed over eyes staring up at me.

"Burn it." Jasper commanded, throwing the lighter towards me.

My hands went up to catch it and protect my face although my reaction was too late, the lighter hitting me in the chest and knocking the breath out of me. After catching my breath, and sending a glare to Jasper who was too busy to notice, I bent down to retrieve the lighter and toyed with the flame setting until I could safely catch Laurent's head in the flame, without burning myself. I quickly found a good level and soon had a pile of ashes at my feet where Laurent's head had been only moments before.

Thunderous tearing noises broke through the clearing, causing me to adjust my gaze to the far side of the clearing where I saw Jasper rapidly moving to rip the rest of the body into small parts and add them to the growing pile of ash situated at my feet.

Purple smoke billowed into the sky from the small fire at my feet, alerting surrounding wildlife to the end of the disturbance. In the distance wildlife began to return to normal, with deer herds gathering nearby and checking that all members were present now that the surrounding area had calmed, and the tension relieved.

Jasper had been pacing the clearing, staring at the ground, lost in thought. I cleared my throat to gain his attention, his head snapped toward me and he slipped into a crouch as a feral growl escaped his mouth.

I took a step backwards uncertain of Jaspers actions, stepping on a twig and causing it to snap this broke Jasper out of his state. He met my gaze; his eyes conveyed the anguish and apology that did not need to be spoken aloud.

"...Bella..." He started to speak but was interrupted by a sudden noise off in the forest which caused him to grab me spinning me around he placed my back up against a nearby tree and took a defensive stance in front of me. He let out a growl to warn the now audible sounds of a pack of animals moving nearby not to come any closer. The animals slowed and came to a stop just outside the tree line, Jasper relaxed slightly; almost in recognition.

"Sam" He greeted warily as a large black wolf stepped through the tree line.

The wolf came to a halt and began to whine "It would be much easier to talk and explain my actions if you change." The wolf seemed to nod in understanding, before looking prominently at me barley visible behind Jaspers still crouched stance; Jasper turned to look at me before answering "I'm sure Bella can handle this" He chuckled "Can't you Darlin'" he finished with a drawl.

My answer was a concerned glance at Jasper, my mind questioning whether it was possible for a vampire to go insane.

"Oh, it's quite possible" Came an unexpected reply; I had not asked that question in my head.

"No, Clearly not Darlin' last I checked it was Edward who could read minds, not me." I unknowingly flinched at the mention of Edward, causing Jasper to whisper an apology to me and glance worriedly in my direction.

The movement of the wolf out of the corner of my eye drew my attention just in time to see the pitch black fur retreat; leaving a very tall, very tanned and naked man in its place.

This was the last thing I saw before everything went black as my eyes rolled into the back of my head.

* * *

As usual let me know if you can spot any mistakes and I will slap my beta/ friend Lauren around the head :D.

**Until next time...** which will either be nest Monday or the Monday after.

**Beth x**


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